1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface-mounted connector in which terminals projecting from a connector main body is soldered to a substrate in a state of being placed on the substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
On a substrate of an electronic device or an electronic circuit, for example, a connector and the like are mounted as electronic components. When the connector is mounted on the substrate, for example, the connector is fixed to the substrate in such a manner as to be fastened to the substrate with screws.
Here, a surface-mounted connector that is one type of connector (which may occasionally be referred as an SMT connector) is provided with a connector main body formed into a substantially rectangular box, and a screw fastening flange portion formed so as to project from a side of the connector main body. With the screw fastening flange portion being fastened to the substrate by inserting screw(s) through the flange portion, the connector main body, that is to say, an SMT connector is fixed to the substrate.
However, the screw fastening flange portion of the SMT connector occupies a relatively large size (area) on the substrate, and therefore, the large occupying area becomes an obstacle in producing small-sized electronic devices or electronic circuits.
In this case, there exists a structure in which the SMT connector is mounted on the substrate by soldering fixing terminal, provided on the SMT connector, to the substrate instead of using the screw fastening. The fixing terminal is formed as, for example, a member that is bent so as to have a substantially L-shaped cross section. The fixing terminal is temporarily fixed to the connector main body in such a manner as to be press-fitted, along a side wall of the connector main body, from a side that is opposite to a side in which the connector main body is mounted on the substrate. In the temporarily fixed state, the bent portion is made to face the substrate when the SMT connector is mounted on the substrate (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 5-23429). With the fixing terminal being soldered to the substrate, the connector main body, that is to say, the SMT connector itself is mounted on the substrate. Here, even if the bent portion of the fixing terminal is made smaller than the above-described screw fastening flange portion, to some degree, in the area occupied on the substrate, a sufficient soldering strength is obtained. For this reason, an electronic device or electronic circuit can be made smaller.
However, if excessive force is applied to the fixing terminal for some reason (for example, when the SMT connector is placed on the substrate, the SMT connector is bumped against other electronic components mounted or placed on the substrate) during a time period from a time in which the fixing terminal is press-fitted into the connector main body and brought into a temporarily fixed state until a time in which the SMT connector is placed on the substrate, and further until a time in which the SMT connector is mounted on the substrate, the fixing terminal is dislocated from a regular mounting position on the connector main body. As a result, the fixing terminal is removed from the connector main body or is placed on the substrate in the state of being raised (separated) from the substrate, and there is a possibility that mounting failure of the connector main body may occur.